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Brazil inflation likely high in March- poll
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Chile's copper exports rise in March
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Latam FX off 0.3%; stocks up 0.4%
By Amruta Khandekar April 10 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies fell on Monday as the dollar firmed on data showing resilience in the U.S. labor market that raised bets of another interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Employers in the United States maintained a strong pace of hiring in March, a closely watched report showed on Friday, when the U.S. and most Latin American markets were closed for the Good Friday holiday. The data bolstered expectations of a 25 basis point rate hike from the Fed in May, dampening hopes of a pause in tightening that was driven by a slew of weak economic data preceding the jobs report. MSCI's Latin American currencies index was down 0.3% by 14:28 GMT. "I think they (the Fed) will go 25 bps, but things are very data dependent and we will continue to see huge moves off the back of data releases," said Christian Lawrence, senior cross asset strategist at Rabobank. Investor focus this week will be on U.S. inflation data, as well as World Bank and International Monetary Fund's spring meetings in Washington. The Brazilian real fell 0.5% against the greenback, a day ahead of an inflation reading that will come amid President Luiz Inacio Lula's criticism of its central bank's hawkish stance.
Brazil's inflation likely stayed high in March on rising gasoline bills and resurging cost of living problems in the country's stagnant economy, a Reuters poll showed. The country's government expects monetary policy next year not to be as restrictive as in 2023, an economy ministry official said on Monday, stressing that a new fiscal framework proposed by the administration would help bring interest rates down. Mexico's peso dipped 0.7%, snapping two straight sessions of gains. The country's automotive production and exports rose in March from a year earlier, data showed on Monday. The Chilean peso slipped 0.3% against the dollar. The world's top copper producer saw exports of the metal reach $4.59 billion in March, up 9.9% from a year earlier, the central bank said on Monday. Bucking the trend, the Colombian peso rose 0.4%.
Latam stocks rose 0.4%, helped by a 0.8% rise in Brazil's Bovespa index with materials stocks among the biggest boosts. Equities in Chile and Mexico also rose 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively. Elsewhere in emerging markets, Egypt's annual urban consumer inflation rate in March rose 32.7% year-on-year, just shy of an all-time record of 31.9% in February, according to data on Monday.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1428 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily % change
MSCI Emerging Markets 987.55 0.05 MSCI LatAm 2173.71 0.34 Brazil Bovespa 101732.08 0.9 Mexico IPC 53770.85 0.51 Chile IPSA 5285.10 0.21 Argentina MerVal 0.00 0 Colombia COLCAP 1189.25 -0.36 Currencies Latest Daily % change
Brazil real 5.0865 -0.57
Mexico peso 18.2407 -0.69 Chile peso 820.8 -0.28
Colombia peso 4553.3 0.26
Peru sol 3.7486 0.02
Argentina peso 213.2800 -0.96
(interbank) Argentina peso 387 1.29
(parallel) (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
